The present disclosure relates generally to a label that may be applied to a vial, bottle, or other container having a closure, which may be described as a cap or a top. The combination of the container and closure can be described as a closure container assembly or system and the closure and container assembly are designed to store and dispense materials, particularly pharmaceuticals. The label is specifically design to allow a user to have options as to the design of the label positioned on the container in such a manner as to relay information, such as information concerning the medicine or advertising, to a person that subsequently uses the container enclosure system. The label is also specifically design to facilitate minimization of the label and its substrate as the label and its substrate are produced while providing the label in a user friendly and at least partially automated format.
There are many types of closure systems described in the art. For example there are closures that are child resistant, closures that are non child resistant, and closures that are convertible from child resistant to non child resistant, from non child resistant to child resistant, or convertible between the two modes multiple times. Most of the technology in this field has been directed at improving the container and/or closure, or the interface between the container and closure.
Very little advancement has been directed towards the labeling or information provided with the pharmaceuticals or the labeling attached to the container. Typically the containers are cylindrical in nature and the labeling for those cylindrical containers is oriented such that the lines of alphanumeric characters are substantially perpendicular to the axis of the container. This can pose a problem for a user of the container in the reading of the information contained on the label.
Additionally, when a non-cylindrical container, for example a dropper bottles, tubes, ointment containers, pump bottles and others, is used to house the pharmaceutical, the traditional labeling typically fails to match those alternate shapes and results in an inefficient information transfer to the end user or patient. This is illustrated in FIGS. 1A-1C with label 2A.
Additionally, prior art labels are usually printed in a single size and single geometric design in order to simplify inventory and procedures at the pharmacies. As a result, the label sizes are designed for the typically cylindrically shaped containers and usually the smallest sized of those containers. This leaves a majority of the circumferential space unused on larger cylindrically containers to which the standard small labels are affixed. This can unnecessarily result in the use of a smaller sized font, which can result in an ineffective message to the patient through by decreasing the readability of the font. This is illustrated in FIGS. 1A-1B with label 2A.
For example, typically the smaller containers have small diameters such that words having anything but more than a few letters require the holder of the container to rotate the container about its axis in order to be able to read the information contained thereon. This is especially cumbersome given the multiple characters and/or letters that comprise most medicines, which can be upwards of 15-20 letters long. Additionally, since these smaller sized labels and fonts are generally used on the larger containers, the information contained thereon is still hard to read even given the larger diameters of the larger containers. Any warnings on the labels in the form of sentences or small paragraphs require multiple turns and/or rotations of the container in order for a user to be able to read that information or are in a smaller font than necessary. This can be annoying and troublesome to the user and does not facilitate an ease of information transfer from a label to the user of a container.
Some prior art attempts have tried to vary only the size of labels on a single sheet. For example, FIG. 1D shows a label sheet having two labels with the only difference being that label 2C is smaller the label 2B. These labels have the same basic information layout. This type of label configuration does not address a situation when containers with alternate shapes, such as non-cylindrical containers, are used to house the pharmaceuticals. These containers with alternate shapes include ointment jars, ointment tubes and boxes, opthalmic boxes, and small unit of use bottles.
When non-cylindrical containers are used with the single size and single geometric design prior art label, this issue is exacerbated. The non-cylindrical containers typically force a pharmacist to either 1) have multiple label stocks and potentially multiple label printers to produce the multiple label designs and sizes needed or 2) use the label (typically the smallest label) that operates with all of the container shapes and sizes. Both options increase costs, operation time, and difficulty in the prescription filling process.
Another factor in the application of the labeling to the containers is the need for an ergonomic label design with respect to the containers and an ergonomic process for the actual selection of the labels by the user, such as a pharmacist, and placement of those label by the same on the containers.
Up until this point the space on a pharmaceutical container, namely the label or labels positioned thereon, have been used to provide information concerning the pharmaceuticals contained therein including the dosage warnings and other pertinent information. Portions of this space have been unused or at least under utilized.
In light of the foregoing there is a need for revised labeling system used with a pharmaceutical container. The revised labeling system preferably maximizes the readability of the information, medical or otherwise, positioned on the pharmaceutical container such that a reader of that information can readily read, ascertain and comprehend the information. The revised labeling system is preferably a single printing operation and provides a pharmacist label options that vary in configuration and size so that the pharmacist can select labeling that corresponds to numerous containers. The revised labeling preferably system minimizes any procedures for the placement of that labeling on the containers. This needed labeling is lacking in the art.